Dark Gifts
by FinParis
Summary: A Flying Dragon fic. Raima, a broken ninja, ressurects Suzaku from Hell to use him as a weapon against Gengai, the Kung Fu master who disfigured the ninja. But Suzaku has his own plans of repiecing his soul back together and taking revenge on humanity.
1. Prologue

A/N: Recently I found my old Flying Dragon game and I've been playing it. It's amazing how a classic like that never gets old. Anyway, I was on the 'net and I couldn't find _any_ Flying Dragon fan fiction. So I decided to write one. I came up with this idea while playing the game, pretty much. I have an over active imagination that likes to make up reasons as to _why_ these people on my television screen before me are beating the crap out of each other. And this is what I came up with. Maybe now when you play it too, this is what you'll think about. And also, I'm sorry if I ruin Flying Dragon for you forever.

On a last note, I like to say something about the time frame I chose. In the game, you can win computers and at least four of the characters (Wiler, Kate, Powers, and Robonohana) have a modern times feel, seeing as they are from the CIA/Army, from the LAPD, are world wrestling champions of the NCW, and are robots (respectively). So I chose to omit them for my purposes, and set the story in around the mid 1800s. Also, I somewhat omitted Raima's history of becoming part cyborg. Because that just didn't fit either! So instead he's just mauled and mangled! And also, I made him evil. Because there are just too many good guys and not enough bad guys in this game. It doesn't matter much, I think. I'm just doing this for kicks.

Disclaimers: I own a copy of the game, but I don't own the rights to Flying Dragon, or any of it's characters (Gengai, Raima, Shin Ryumaou, or Suzaku/Red Falcon). I'm just doing this because I'm just a little bit obsessed and have just a little too much time on my hands.

It's rated M for future chapters.

Anyway! On with the story (finally).

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Dark Gifts

By FinParis

Prologue

Raima sat before his crude fire at odd angles. Although his burns and wounds had been treated so long ago, the most skilled hands on earth could not heal the damage that had been done inside of him. His bones had been crushed, and muscles torn. His right arm hung limp at his side at all times, and he limped when he walked, though a better word might have been 'hobbled.' Running was completely out of the question, though sometimes he managed a slight jog, if the occasion truly called for it. He had a map of scars on his face and body, and a patchy head of black, stringy hair. Only his brown eyes showed the keenness that his body no longer could. Once, he had been a ninja, and he had been the finest of the breed. Sleek, powerful, and without remorse, he could slip into the shadows at will to completely disappear and kill ten men before anyone even knew where he went. Now clinging to the darkness of shadow was all he could do to hide his abhorrent face. Rich men would hire him to assassinate politicians, so they might move up in rank. Other men would hire him to murder husbands, so they might take their wives. He had been one of the most feared killers in Japan, and when he had moved his terror into China, he had been feared there too. But not by Gengai. A monk and a teacher of Kung Fu at Syorin-Ji Temple, Gengai was a man of incredible virtue and strength. He believed that the strong must protect the weak, not prey on them for money and other such bribes. He also believed that the police, though capable of handling more ordinary situations of lawbreaking, could not in their dreams hope to destroy evil like Raima, who were killers trained in martial arts.

And so, taking it upon himself as a man like Gengai usually does, he created a secret organization of Syorin-Ji Temple's best fighters, who were skilled in hand to hand combat and had the same sense of honor and virtue as he did. There were only a handful of them, six all together, but they were powerful. They sought out Raima, and when they found him they gave him no mercy just as he had given none to his victims. Raima had fought back, and killed one man, but there was nothing he could do when surrounded by the six others. They did not kill him, but left him to die, bleeding and broken in the foothills of a mountain near his hideout. But as fate had it, he did not die. A man with a wagon who was bringing rice to the next town happened upon the broken ninja, and tended to him. The man's heart was big, and he took the ninja into his care for weeks until one night he simply disappeared, and the man never saw him again.

Raima returned to and traveled through Japan in his disfigured body, raging and insane, and furious that he could do nothing to ease it. He had no money, food, or even a way of life since Gengai ripped it from him. He had trained in the ninja arts for his entire life since he was a boy. He had lived it, breathed it, his mind had revolved around it, and now there was nothing but an empty wisp of memory. He felt helpless in a body that could no longer shed blood. At first, being simply a wanderer suited his needs, it gave him a sense of purpose until he realized that it was just that. Wandering. He moved towards no goal, and achieved nothing in the months that he did it. And when he looked back on it, he realized he hated those two years of wandering more than he ever knew. At last returned to China and his old hideout, a small cave furnished with a straw bed, and began to plan his revenge.

And there he sat before his crude fire, bent and mangled, his mind reeling with thoughts of blood. He knew he could never make his enemies suffer now, in his body of misfortunes, and he had no money to bribe someone else to do it for him. He sat for hours, staring into the fire until finally he knew what he would do. Retrieving his blade, he let it bite into his palm and held his fist over the fire, letting the crimson droplets roll from his hand and burn in the flames. He murmured to the Devil King, Shin Ryumaou, that he would willingly give to him his obedience and eternal loyalty if in return Shin Ryumaou would lend him a servant; a killer who could give Raima his revenge by killing every member of the organization that destroyed him. As he murmured, his voice grew louder and stronger until he wasn't murmuring at all, but yelling as his blood ran into the fire.

"Shin Ryumaou! King of Devils! Ruler of the Underworld!" He yelled. "Send me a servant to kill all the members of Gengai's secret group, the group that took it upon themselves to end me, and I will be yours! Send me the Red Falcon, and I will give myself to you, King!" _Red Falcon_. It was the first name he thought of in his raging madness. The man who so long ago was sent to hell by a warrior of dragons. He had read of the Red Falcon in scrolls, and had never truly believed in such a man, but as he now sat, pledging himself to Shin Ryumaou in his insanity, he felt he could believe in anything. "King, give me the Red Falcon, and you shall have me!" As he threw his head back to yell the last words at the top of his voice, his body twisted and writhed, feeling as if the very fires of Hell were burning inside of him, ready to explode and engulf him completely. He screamed and fell to the floor of his cave completely, his body twisting and jerking, as if he were attached to strings and some puppeteer were making him perform this grotesque dance. Suddenly, there was a loud sound, such as the sound of something incredibly heavy falling, or the sound of one of those cannons from the western world firing, which was followed by complete silence. He could hear nothing, not even the sounds of birds, or the wind through the hills. Raima's eyes were closed, and he found that when he opened them there was no change. As he lay there, listening and seeing nothing, he became very aware of the cold hard ground beneath him, as if he had only just realized it was there. His body felt as though it was being weighted down, and yet his mind was reeling. Slowly, the curse that seemed to hang over his body and senses began to lift, his limbs coming back to life, minus he right arm which he had grown used to, and his hearing and vision slowly coming back into focus. As he finally found he could pull himself into a sitting position again and look around, a smooth, deep voice greeted his reawakened senses.

"Ah, Master Raima. So good of you to finally return," it said with an accent that Raima had never heard before. His head snapped around to see where the voice had come from. A man stood to his left, tall and pale, with dark hair and piercing eyes. He had a long thin scar running across his nose from cheekbone to cheekbone, and he wore clothes of black, gold, and scarlet red. The old ninja could tell that beneath the clothes he wore, the man was thin, sleek and muscular. He climbed to his feet slowly, still unsure of his body since the moments where his senses were ripped from him, and he took a long look at the strange man before him. It seemed that Shin Ryumaou had accepted his terms, though he was a little surprised. He thought that since he was already destined for Hell anyway due to his murderous and sinful life, his impure soul wasn't much of a bargaining piece. However, he didn't know that the Devil King enjoyed the rare occasion of receiving a _willing _soul, as he would no doubt find out when he finally crossed over into the Underworld.

"You are the Red Falcon." It didn't sound like a question, but the man nodded anyway. His name was Suzaku, although for the last years of his life he had been known as the Red Falcon. He had been one of the most powerful men in the eastern world, particularly skilled in Kung Fu and some magic. Together with his skills, and his four Dark Gifts: the Dark Dragon Claw, the Armor of Devil, the Diamond of Darkness, and the Suzaku Feather, he brought his own sort of Hell to the earth, fighting and killing anyone who presented a challenge. Through his life, he had loved and nurtured those Gifts with his evil heart, until they became a part of his life force; they each contained a small fraction of his tainted soul. He thought no one could overpower him, but eventually a Dragon Warrior, blessed with Gifts from a dragon god of heaven, fought him and he was defeated. In the end the Dragon Warrior also died, from sheer exhaustion, but not before casting Suzaku's soul into Hell. Suzaku, too, managed to whisper last words with his dying breath, cursing the Dragon Warrior's Gifts, and sealing them away with the last of his power, giving each of them a demon guardian so that none could ever be used against him again. Though Suzaku died there, his Dark Gifts remained on earth and were scattered by the power and intensity of his death, weakening their power with distance.

And so, there Suzaku, the Red Falcon stood. Neither dead, nor alive, three shards of his soul lost somewhere on earth, the rest of it residing in the deformed man before him until his deed was complete and his promise fulfilled. Until the day that Raima's bidding was done, Suzaku was his, soul bound. The hideous ninja smirked as he realized what stood before him: an evil demon, at his command. A powerful warrior who would not stop until his duties were done.

"My revenge," said Raima, "will soon begin. You're going to kill every single member of Gengai's secret organization one by one, and then you will fight Gengai himself until he is weak. Then you will stand aside and let me cast the final blow to end his putrid life." His blood pumped harder at the thought of killing the man who destroyed him. He turned his back on Suzaku, his smirk growing into a grin as he unleashed the bark-like laugh that had been welling up inside of him, his plans reeled in his mind as recklessly as storming winds.

Suzaku said nothing, but his mind filled with plans just as evil as Raima's. He would finish the old ninja's revenge to regain the pieces of his soul that the twisted man now held. Then he would search the world to repossess his Dark Gifts and complete his soul once more, once again becoming the strongest man in the world, this time with no Dragon Warrior to stop him. He regarded the hideous ninja's back with a dark look as he laughed, lost in his thoughts and completely unaware of Suzaku's own evil plans. The deformed man who held part of his soul would live to see his revenge on this 'Gengai'. But not a minute longer.


	2. Chapter I: Ryuhi

A/N: The game booklet had only one to three sentence descriptions for each character. I'm allowed to take liberties in my plot lines. For your amusement, I'll list the sentences that I've been given to work with for Suzaku/Red Falcon and Raima.

Suzaku: An evil man when he was alive, Suzaku has risen from Hell to take revenge on the dragon warriors.

Red Falcon: This unknown man has no scruples. He will fight as dirty as necessary to win.

Raima: A secret organization tried to kill this ninja. His life was saved when he was made into a cyborg, and he has vowed revenge.

As I've said before, I've omitted the cyborg part. Disclaimers disclaimers.

I'll write the rest of the character descriptions I've been working with later. I don't want to ruin the characters for you before they've even been introduced into my story!

Also! This chapter is LONG, and because of that I've left out a lot of detail that I originally had in it, because it was totally irrelevant to the whole plotline. I was sad to see some characters go, but it had to be done!

Disclaimers: I own a copy of the game, but I don't own the rights to Flying Dragon, or any of it's characters (Gengai, Raima, Hayato, Ryuhi or Suzaku/Red Falcon). I'm just doing this because I'm just a little bit obsessed and have just a little too much time on my hands.

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Dark Gifts

by FinParis

Chapter I: Ryuhi

Ryuhi, also known as the "Holy Fist" of Syorin-Ji Temple, had always been the most talented of his student peers. Through his life of training under his teacher, Master Gengai, he had always outshined his fellow students, which could sometimes cause some friction, though usually his friends were just happy for him, and encouraged him to do his best since they were all training and fighting for the same code anyway. He was tall, and muscular, with both dark brown hair and eyes, and his skin was tanned a healthy shade of golden brown from years of outdoor training and exercise. His hair was somewhat short and somewhat messy, and his angular features created for him an overall good-looking appearance. He had come to the temple as a boy orphan when Gengai had stumbled upon him in a small outside village of China. He had held some knowledge of martial arts and as he practiced, thinking he was alone and unwatched, Gengai saw the potential shining within him. Since it was Gengai's business to train great fighters, he took it upon himself to take the boy back with him to the Syorin-Ji Temple and take him into his teachings.

At first it had been hard for Ryuhi, since he started his training at what was considered a late age by the Syorin-Ji Temple masters. He was only ten, but already it seemed he had missed years of training that the other boys his age had already completed. Gengai, however, used Ryuhi's age to his advantage. He started the ten year old boy off with the basic training that all the other boys had started with years ago, but since Ryuhi was older than they had been, Gengai saw fit to make the training of each day harder and longer. Ryuhi didn't mind much that he was the oldest in his small class, soaking up everything that was taught to him. He had always enjoyed martial arts ever since a man from his small village called Ju-Long had taken him as his student. Ju-Long had thought it would be good for the boy, since his parents had died from illnesses before they could teach him anything of morals and the ways of right and wrong. So he allowed the virtues of martial arts to raise Ryuhi, giving him an upbringing which was perfectly balanced between tranquility and discipline. When Gengai had come to Ju-Long asking to take Ryuhi into his care, the old martial artist was more than please to let Ryuhi go with the Syorin-Ji Temple monk. He had grown attached to the boy, of course, but he knew that at the temple of Kung Fu, Ryuhi would learn more than Ju-Long could ever hope to teach him in his lifetime, both about martial arts and virtues.

Ryuhi, garbed in the temple student uniform of a white sleeveless shirt, blue pants and soft shoes, began his training at Syorin-Ji Temple. Even at ten, his muscles were well toned from the instruction of Ju-Long. He trained hard, balancing his day between the rigorous practice of his martial arts exercises and his general chores and duties around the temple. It was believed that discipline was one of the biggest aspects of a martial artists' life, and it seemed that chores were the masters' way of teaching that discipline. Some days a boy would get more chores than he could hope to finish in the run of a day, even if he didn't have to practice Kung Fu drills. Ryuhi, after a time, figured that it was also part of his training to accept the consequences of his actions when he couldn't finish his temple duties. And so on the days when the chores were heaped up on him, he did his best to complete as many as he could, and accepted the consequences of extra drills the next day when he told the masters he did not finish (only once had he made the mistake of saying he _could not_ finish, and he was punished for such narrow minded thoughts with extra drills and chores for five weeks (a week for every chore that was not completed). The masters believed that if you thought you could not do something, you would never achieve your goals of actually doing it.)

There were four monks and masters of Kung Fu at the temple: Sheng-Li, Kun, Yu, and Gengai, who was the 'head master'. The four of them looked much the same; bald, and with beards. Sheng-Li and Yu were taller, and had long dark beards while Kun and Gengai were shorter, perhaps with age, and their beards were gray and white. They all wore the same uniform of yellow shirts, brown pants, and red belts. Each of them had a necklace of large red beads strung around their necks, and six dots lined their foreheads in columns of three. Although Gengai was considered the 'head master', it didn't, observed Ryuhi, give him much more power than any of the other masters. If a decision was needed to be made, all four masters would agree on it, and Gengai never intruded on another master's training techniques. Each man trained his own handful of students, but should a boy be asked to do a chore by another master, he would have to comply. Every boy's devotion was to their own master, but more so they were devoted to the temple itself. It was their home, and their mother, and their mentor and their peace of mind. They ate there, slept there, trained there and eventually the temple would become a part of every boy who ever was gifted enough to become a student there. It was often that past students who had long ago parted ways with the temple to wander off on their own and find their own purpose in life would return, and simply meditate in one of the practice rooms, sometimes for three days straight. Then they would be gone again without a word. Gengai would never explain this to his students, just as the other masters wouldn't either. They said it was the fighters' business alone, and maybe the boys would come to understand as they to grew and left the temple one by one. Some fighters never left the temple, however, and instead devoted themselves to becoming monks with further training by their masters. A different kind of training than martial arts; it involved hours of meditation each day as they tried to achieve some higher form of enlightenment.

Meditation was also a large part of the boys' lives. Each day they were also required to meditate, for an hour, and on Wednesdays they were required to do three. They were told to reflect on their lives, and their purposes, and their inner peace. These were the hours of the week where they would find their inner conflicts, whether it was with themselves or other boys, and simply let them go. Tell themselves it was not important, and not worthy of a fighter of Syorin-Ji temple to harbour such tainted thoughts. On Wednesdays, they would meditate the three hours together, but on the other days of the week the boys were required to meditate in their own time. Ryuhi preferred to do a half hour at sunrise and a half hour at sunset, a routine he never broke. The masters believed that any man could be a fighter, but in order to truly be a Syorin-Ji Temple fighter, he must achieve perfect balance inside himself in the form of perfect harmony and peace. Without these, his mind and soul could become twisted with conflict and eventually hate, to the point where his martial arts training became a danger to the innocent and weak, rather than a protector of them.

At the temple, a strict and sacred code was followed. The code itself could be found in both the largest meditation hall and the largest practice hall. It hung on a wall in each of these rooms in the form of several small, flat, wooden panels. During their Wednesday meditation sessions, all the students of the temple of all ages would sit in the large room on their knees facing their masters at the front of the room. More importantly, it seemed, behind their masters loomed the temple code on the long wall, and though the student's eyes were closed they knew it was there, staring at them strictly. It's eight lines were burned into every one of their minds as they grew up, knowing that they should both live and die by it. They were required to recite it on their own before each daily hour of meditation, but before each Wednesday session, all the voices in the room would rise up together, giving everyone a strong sense of unity:

"Become the Strong to protect the Weak

Become the Just to disperse the Evil

Become the Enlightened to guide the Struggling

Become the Righteous to rescue the Helpless.

There is no Conflict, only Peace

There is no Corruption, only Honor

There is no Pride, only Knowledge

There is no Greed, only Sacrifice"

Although he had started out so far behind the other boys his age, Ryuhi caught up quickly in his first years at the temple. By the time he was thirteen, he had completed the years of training he had missed, and also the three years of training that the other boys his age had been doing while he was there. When he came to this point, he was finally allowed to train with his peers. In the large practice hall, Gengai would chose two students each day to have a short sparring match before the drills began, so they themselves could see their own progress, and their own faults so they could learn to correct them. If a boy had a weak defence, Gengai would purposely match him against one of the students with a very aggressive offence, so that without Gengai saying a word, the boy would know he needed to practice his defence.

Ryuhi had a strong offence which he likes to use straight off in a fight. One day when Ryuhi was sixteen, Gengai paired him with a tall, muscular boy named Ji, a master of defence in his own right. As they sparred, Ryuhi fought aggressively and Ji defended without throwing a single punch. It seemed they were evenly matched, but Gengai had a purpose. As Ryuhi began to grow tired, and Ji's defence never seemed to waver, his attacks grew more and more flawed until finally Ji found the perfect moment to strike. Unsuspecting an weary, Ji's sudden attack caught Ryuhi off guard, and he was defeated with the single blow. For months after that moment, Ryuhi spent twice as much time training his defensive moves as he did training his offensive. Gengai pointed out that there was more to Kung Fu, and all martial arts, then simply offensive and defensive drills. A man needed to use his mind to outsmart his opponent, to lead him on and eventually finish the match cleanly.

"Always let your opponent strike first," Gengai would say. "Do not attack blindly a man you know nothing about. Let him attack first, and his movements will speak to you. Find his weaknesses and exploit them." Sometimes on sparring days, the boys would each assume a defensive position and simply wait for the other one to attack. Gengai would never step in during this waiting game, no matter how long it took. Eventually, someone would break and attack first, and since his match with Ji, it was never Ryuhi again. Once, Ryuhi and a stockier, dark haired boy called Shen stood in their defensive positions for nearly an hour and a quarter, staring each other down, neither making a move. Gengai approved of this, standing and watching, proud of the patience that his students had learned. Eventually Shen attacked, and Ryuhi consequently won the fight, but Gengai was pleased with both of them.

And this was what life for Ryuhi was like at the temple. Meditation for a half hour at sunrise and another half hour at sunset. Completing all or most of his chores and accepting punishment for the latter. Two thirds of the drills he practiced on his own were defence, and the other third was offence. And then he would spend the rest of the day with Gengai and the other boys, training, sparring, and exercising. Every day was generally the same routine, over and over and over, until he reached the first few months of his seventeenth year. Considered men at that age, the seventeen-year-old students of Syorin-Ji had begun to wander off away from the temple, just as students had done before them, until there remained only three of that age at the temple. Two were Gengai's students, Ji and Ryuhi. The other was a man named Tao-Ming, a student of Sheng-Li who wished to stay on and devote himself to monk-hood, as a handful of students had done in the years before him. Ryuhi and Ji continued to train, though now it seemed more on their own than with their masters, and they received less chores so that the younger students coming in could take the bulk of temple duties. In these times, the oldest fighters who had stayed instead of left no longer had to wear the uniforms of the younger students, but could dress how the saw fit. Ryuhi had an outfit made for him by the seamstress in the nearby town. It was in much the same style as the student uniform, however it was mainly red with white, and he chose soft boots rather than the soft shoes he had worn before.

Since most of the time of their master was being used to train the younger students coming into the temple, Ji and Ryuhi came to an agreement that, with permission from their Sensei, they would begin sparring routines of their own. Gengai had chuckled when they had approached him, however.

"Ji, Ryuhi. You are members of this temple, and although I still give you guidance, you are men now, capable of making your own decisions of what training you should embark on next. I leave it to you."

After that, Ji and Ryuhi sparred five times a week, leaving two days off strictly for exercise and meditation. Ryuhi found out quickly that although Ji had beaten him once before, they had now drawn almost completely even with each other in strength and skill, and it was solely up to their strategic knowledge to determine the winner of each sparring session. Through the winter and spring, they grew to become close friends. Once in a while, they would take the later half of a day off from their training and visit the nearby town, more often than not finding themselves in some sort of conflict or another. Although most people respected them, some of the more rowdy, drunken men who thought it was their business to start trouble would try and stir something up. Luckily, years of growing up with monks had taught the two young men ample amounts of patience, and most often the drunks would end up leaving before anything serious broke out. Of course, Ji and Ryuhi could have put silence to them quite quickly if they had truly wanted to, but they followed their code and thought that, although they were inconvenient and loud, the men hardly came close to the embodiment of Evil.

It was in the summer of his seventeenth year that Ryuhi was singled out by Gengai to receive more training.

"Your skills of Kung Fu, Ryuhi, are excellent. You've learned everything thoroughly that I have taught you." Ryuhi bowed in appreciation to his master. Sensei Gengai had been a father-figure to him since he had left Ju-Long, and he felt an immense sense of satisfaction when Gengai took the time to compliment him. "However, there is more I can teach you yet." Ryuhi's eyebrows raised slightly, and even if he had wanted to say something he might not have been able to. In all the years Ryuhi had finished chores early, and watched Gengai train his older students, he had never seen him teach anything beyond what he knew now. If Gengai was singling him out to teach him further techniques that Ryuhi had never seen him train to anyone else before, it was a great honor. But if Gengai was offering to teach Ryuhi to become a monk, the student wouldn't exactly know how to politely turn him down. Although Kung Fu had become Ryuhi's life, he had never considered monk-hood a part of it.

Gengai continued. "It is a branch of techniques that grew out of the style of Kung Fu. Only a man who has a true knowledge and understanding of Kung Fu can learn such techniques. I've never heard of it taught to someone as young as you, Ryuhi, and I myself was some years older when I undertook the training to learn it from my teacher. But I think that you will be able to complete it now. It's not an easy task, Ryuhi, and it will take more years of training and dedication to learn. It's your choice." Gengai knew that as patient as most of his students seemed at Ryuhi's age, many of them were eager to leave the temple and make it out on their own. The fact that Ryuhi hadn't left yet, though, encouraged Gengai's thoughts of training him in this new technique. He always seemed ready to learn more.

And he was. Thankful to the gods that Gengai hadn't assumed he was staying on to become a monk, Ryuhi nodded. "Yes, Sensei," he said somewhat slowly. He wanted to word it perfectly, considering this was one of the most important moments of his life. To stay on for extra training was an incredible honour, and Ryuhi wanted to know all there was about Kung Fu. "I want to train further with you and learn this other branch." Yes, that sounded good.

"Good. From this moment forward you are no longer a student of Syorin-Ji Temple, but my new student of Hiru no Ken. Come to the well tomorrow past sunrise, and we will begin." Gengai walked away and Ryuhi bowed. As soon as the master was out of right, however, he dropped his diplomatic air and simply jumped in the air with exuberance. He knew he had been a good student, and he had tried very hard to please his sensei, but this was too much! It took all of his effort not to give a great shout. Instead, he walked to his room energetically and knelt, taking up the meditation position to try and calm his excited mind. Gengai had entrusted him with this new training. It wouldn't do to have an emotional outburst and compromise Gengai's faith in him. Since he was a boy he was taught that a fighter should be calm and even at all time. Showing much emotion at all could be one's undoing in a fight. Although the students were required to maintain the same calm and even air at all times at the temple, sometimes on the very, very rare days that they are given half off to leave the temple and visit the town, they would let themselves go and act like normal boys, rowdy and loud. Growing up among the four monks had been hard, and if it hadn't been for those days, Ryuhi thought, he surely would have gone insane.

The next day, Ryuhi completed his half hour of sunrise meditation and hurried outside to the well, where Gengai was already waiting. The well was behind the temple, where not much went on, and it served as the second best place for privacy when quiet training was needed. The best place was inside, in the practice and meditation rooms. However, as Ryuhi was soon to find out, the confined spaces of inside the temple didn't provide enough room for someone who was just beginning the training of Hiru no Ken, and so Gengai opted to bring the training outside.

Ryuhi bowed to his sensei, and Gengai began. "The substance of Hiru no Ken comes from inside a fighter. From their fighting spirit. Their Chii." Ryuhi listened. Chii was a well known concept to the students of Syorin-Ji. In order for a fighter to be completely at balance, their Chii needed to be flowing strongly inside of them, holding everything together. Their minds connected to their bodies through Chii, and their Chii is what gave them the power and strength to fight. As a fighter trained his mind and body, the Chii which links them both grew stronger. The strength of a fighter was measured by the strength of his Chi. "Hiru no Ken draws the Chii of a fighter outside of his body, allowing it to be used as a weapon." Ryuhi stared at Gengai. He had never before heard of Chii being used outside of someone's body before. "Watch," said the master as he stepped a little further away from his student and turned to the side. Assuming what appeared to be a general stance, Gengai made two fists at his sides, palms facing up and elbows bent. He remained like that for a few moments before suddenly thrusting his right hand forward, palm open and facing in front of him. With a shout of, what sounded like "Kinryuha" to Ryuhi, a great ball of red light exploded out of his extended hand. It didn't move, but stayed in front of the outstretched palm. It grew as big as the upper half of Gengai himself, raging and burning so that even Ryuhi who stood back felt the intense heat of it. It lasted all of three seconds before the ball eventually burned up, and again there was silence. Ryuhi didn't even remember to act calm and cool. The stunned look that had plastered itself to his face said it all. He had never imagined that a technique like that even existed, let alone could be learned by him.

Gengai noted the stunned look on his student's face, and nodded. "That was a Kinryuha." _Kinryuha._ Ryuhi mouthed the words, his eyes still wide with his surprise. "But that was an advanced Kinryuha. To start, you will learn a simple Kinryuha." Gengai assumed the same position as before, and one again shot his palm forward. He called out the word "Kinryuha", but this time a smaller, more solid ball of red light extended from his palm, that emitted a warmth like that of a cheery fire, rather than a burning Hell. It traveled in a straight line away from Gengai until it simply burned up a few yards away. This 'simple Kinryuha' still seemed just as impossible to Ryuhi. "Now," said Gengai, "you will try."

"But… how? I don't even know where to begin, Sensei!" Ryuhi's voice was still full of shock, and he was doing very little to hide it.

"Think about it logically, boy," scolded the master. "Your Chii flows inside of you; you've felt it before. You feel it when you fight, you feel it when you meditate, you feel it when you practice your drills. Let it flow through you just as you let it when you do these other things. But this time, when you thrust your palm forward, think of your Chii as an extension of your arm. There is no barrier there to stop it from leaving you. It is simply you reaching further than your physical arm can manage." When Gengai put it like that, Ryuhi felt a little ashamed at his air of impossibility. His teacher made it sound so simple, and yet despite that Ryuhi knew it was going to be so hard. But at least he knew he could do it, now.

Wiping the shocked look from his face, Ryuhi grinded his teeth together in his concentration and assumed the stance that Gengai had used. He heard his teacher say, "Take the time you need to do it, Ryuhi. There is no rush with any form of martial art." Closing his eyes, Ryuhi sought out his Chii. He felt it, flowing through him evenly, and attempted to grasp onto it and use it like his master said. When he felt it was right he extended his palm suddenly with the word 'Kinryuha', reaching forward not so much with his hand but with the Chii inside of him. Something happened. It wasn't as bright, or as big as Gengai's, but some red light substance extended a few feet from his palm before disappearing. His sensei nodded his approval.

"It wasn't bad for your first try. Very good."

As their training continued, Ryuhi's simple Kinryuha grew stronger and brighter. Much of the time, he practiced while Gengai was training his younger students, and found himself exhausted at nights. Gengai warned him not to practice too hard, too much. Chii was a fighter's spirit and his power. If too much Chii was drained from a fighter, it could lead to his death. Gengai didn't think that Ryuhi could die simply from performing too many simple Kinryuhas, but it could give him a splitting headache if he used too much Chii, and exhaust him. If that were the case, Ryuhi would need a few days to regenerate.

"There was a man who was blessed by a dragon god of heaven," Gengai told Ryuhi after an hour of meditation they had just shared. "He's come to be known as a Dragon Warrior in most tales. He fought a dark and powerful man long ago called the Red Falcon. They fought with Chii. It was the most powerful and wild battle ever to have been fought between Heaven and Hell. They say the very earth shook when these two clashed. And though the Dragon Warrior defeated the Red Falcon, he too died from exhausting his Chii."

"Were they using Hiru no Ken?" Asked Ryuhi.

"No. Hiru no Ken is not the only form of outward Chii technique. It is one of many that had been developed in older days. Each uses the same general idea, but each is used for a different style of fighting. Hiru no Ken is based on strong, single attacks. But the outward Chii techniques of 'Aiki-Jiujutsu', for example, are used to throw opponents, instead. The fighting style of the Dragon Warrior was Karate, and although the Red Falcon _was _a master of Kung Fu, he had developed his own outward Chii techniques not of Hiru no Ken."

"If there are many of these different styles of outward Chii techniques, then why have I not heard of them before?" Ryuhi asked, somewhat perplexed.

"It's a dying art, that only the most skilled fighters can comprehend and use. As the times grow more peaceful, people are forgetting the ways of the fighter. You, Ryuhi, have dedicated your life to the martial arts of Kung Fu, and you alone of my students have shown the skills necessary to attempt to learn Hiru no Ken at such a young age. It's a large world full of many different techniques and styles, and you've spent your life in a small village and this Kung Fu temple. It's not surprising that you've never heard of these things before." It made sense to Ryuhi. "Hiru no Ken itself consists of different techniques. The Kinryuha in it's different forms, simple and complex, and Hiru no Ken physical attacks. To use your Chii to make your physical attacks more powerful. To harness your Chii into a single punch or kick is harder than simply letting your Chii explode out of your hand. Not letting it escape your limb, despite the incredible pressure and burn it places on your body. This is why training in Hiru no Ken takes years: to prepare your body to handle these physical attacks."

"So… these physical Hiru no Ken attacks are more powerful than that big Kinryuha you showed me the day we started this training, Master?" It seemed impossible to Ryuhi.

"Imagine," explained Gengai, "that the Kinryuha I showed you that day stayed within my fist. Imagine what a punch with that fist would do to an opponent, and also imagine the great strain on my fist to keep all of that power inside of it, and not let it simply come exploding out. That is the physical Hiru no Ken." Suddenly the faith that Master Gengai had in Ryuhi came into perspective. He trusted that his student would someday be able to master the powerful moves of the Hiru no Ken. Ryuhi felt his willpower harden as he told himself firmly that he would not let down Sensei Gengai.

After that day, Ryuhi trained twice as hard at his Kinryuha, despite the intense exhaustion that overcame him after every session he spent working on it. After two months he was finally able to perform a simple Kinryuha as well as Gengai has demonstrated on that first day of training. Though Ryuhi thought that months was a long time to perfect one technique, Gengai assured him that it was remarkable that he did it so fast at all. It was around the time that Ryuhi perfected his Kinryuha that a stranger visited the Syorin-Ji Temple. Ryuhi was taking a rare break in the front of the temple, watching a sparring match between two of Gengai's younger teenage students, when the stranger walked onto the temple grounds through the gate and up the stone pathway. He was a man of about Ryuhi's age and height, with long chocolate brown hair and eyes, and wore a purple gi. He was very calm, and had a fighter's spirit that Ryuhi could see in his eyes. He introduced himself to Gengai as Hayato, and said that he was from Japan.

"I've learned all I could of martial arts in my own country, and now I've come to China to further my knowledge," he said. "I asked someone in the nearby town, and he told me to come here to Syorin-Ji Temple where Kung Fu is practiced. I was hoping to learn something of it before I leave China." Ryuhi's eyebrows raised. Fighters spirit didn't even come close to what this guy had. All Ryuhi's life was spent perfecting the single art of Kung Fu. If this other man who was the same age as him had learned as many fighting styles as he claimed, he was either terrible at them all, or a genius.

"Well," said Gengai, "this is a temple of Kung Fu, and it's teachers will teach any man who is worthy to learn it. If you can prove yourself worthy, then you may know all you wish to." Ryuhi was sure he knew what was coming. At the Syorin-Ji Temple, when a challenger came, a student of the masters' choosing would meet the challenge. Since Ryuhi was the top student of the head master Gengai, it would no doubt be he who accepted the challenge and fought Hayato. His Sensei nodded at him, and Ryuhi stood concealing his smile. Predictable.

"My student, Ryuhi, is who you will fight. His knowledge of Kung Fu is the greatest of any student here. If you can prove yourself against him, then you are worthy, and may stay in this temple as long as you like to learn at much as you care to."

Hayato nodded, first to Gengai and then to Ryuhi. "It will be an honor to fight someone held in such high regard by his master as you are." Hayato bowed, and Ryuhi did also, all the while keeping respectful eye contact with each other. There was a difference in bowing with respect to an opponent, and bowing in submission. Each assumed his own stance, Ryuhi's one of defence, and Hayato's one that Ryuhi had not seen the likes of before, though the way his arms were positioned in front of his chest made Ryuhi think that it was also one of defence. Knowing not to attack first, Ryuhi waited and thought at first that his opponent was going to wait as well. Quite suddenly, Hayato attacked and although he was ready for an offensive move, Ryuhi was caught of guard. This man was fast! He just managed to throw his arm up in front of Hayato's fist before it could hit his face, and quickly threw up his other arm as well when he realized there was a second fist coming in for another shot. As Ryuhi blocked the second punch, Hayato quickly grabbed both of his arms and crouched, rolling backwards onto his back, bringing the other man to the ground with him. In one swift motion he planted his feet into Ryuhi's stomach and launched him into the air over his head, swiftly climbing back to his feet before Ryuhi even hit the ground and figured out what happened.

Ryuhi, of course, was back on his feet in seconds, knowing that even a moment of stunned behaviour in a fight could have him defeated. Resuming a defensive position, he waited for Hayato to attack once more. When he did, it seemed Ryuhi was ready this time; there was a frenzy of punches, kicks and blocks from both parties, until eventually a fist from Ryuhi hit Hayato square in the jaw. Taking advantage of his opponent's momentary moment of off-balance, the student of Syorin-Ji Temple set two more punches down on Hayato's face, then kicked him once square in the chest to send him backwards. He resumed his defensive stance, and this time, so did Hayato, his arms crossed over his chest.

Gengai, and his small class of young teenagers who had been sparring outside when Hayato arrived, watched with interest. Minutes went by, and neither fighter made a move. A light breeze blew by, shifting the hair on the otherwise stone-still fighters. Suddenly, a flock of birds flew from a tree and took flight, and as if it were a cue Hayato moved with a yell:

"Hourei Shoki!" Came the call of the Japanese fighter, and he uncrossed his arms and out stretched them towards Ryuhi. The movement was violent and dead quick, and it took only half a second for Ryuhi to figure out why. There, coming towards him as if it had just shot out of Hayato's chest, was something that looked like an ice crystal. Ryuhi could feel the warmth like that of a cheery fire coming off of it as it sailed towards him, and his reaction was automatic. Without consent from his mind to do so, his voice yelled, "Kinryuha!" and his palm extended forward quickly, unleashing a ball of red light towards Hayato's Hourei Shoki.

When the two Chi attacks met, there was no explosion or even a loud sound. As they hit each other, there was a gust of wind that traveled outward in all directions, and then simply a puff of smoke and both Chii were gone. It was at that moment that Gengai stepped in to stop the fight. Ryuhi watched his teacher, and although Gengai was not showing it openly, Ryuhi could tell from years of practice that he was impressed by the Japanese fighter. "It would seem," said the master slowly, "that this match is a draw. You have certainly proved yourself, Hayato from Japan. You may stay at the Temple as long as you like and learn what you can." Hayato bowed to Ryuhi, and then to Gengai.

Well, Ryuhi thought, at least things would be interesting for the duration of Hayato's stay.

And things were definitely interesting. Hayato picked up on Kung Fu faster than any student of Syorin-Ji ever had. When a master or student would show Hayato how a movement was executed, the man would practice two or three times, and then never ask again, as though he would remember it forever without another question. Although Ryuhi saw him training in the practice rooms, or outside, he never bothered the man who was so dedicated to martial arts, although once his curiosity got the better of him and he watched when the Japanese man was doing drills outside near the well. He watched him for the better part of five minutes, thinking he was unseen, until quite abruptly Hayato turned towards him and asked if there was something he could help him with. Although Hayato's question was sincere, Ryuhi was embarrassed at being caught intruding on his private training time and quickly dismissed himself with some excuse about water from the well. After retrieving a bucketful, he hurried off out of Hayato's sight and silently cursed himself. Hayato hadn't seemed mad at all that he was being disturbed, a thing that many fighters would be quite angry about; a lot of the time when running through drills, it took all of a person's concentration and effort to remain calm and poised throughout the whole thing. Even Ryuhi could remember his own anger at being interrupted by younger students at the temple after he had achieved such a state of mind.

He forced himself to forget about the incident with Hayato and the well, concentrating instead on other things that had been happening around the temple since the purple gi-clad fighter had shown up a month ago. News had come to the nearby town that there was a ninja, a fierce killer, who was preying on the innocent and weak for money from patrons to his "services." This news troubled the masters, who held virtuous beliefs of protecting the weak above all else. As the news of killings became more frequent, there was talk around the temple of taking maters into their own hands. Gengai made it clear that, although he respected the police, he believed they could not handle a situation where a man as skilled as this ninja, called Raima, was murdering innocent people. "They don't have the necessary abilities," he argued, "to uphold the law against such a trained assassin." The other temple masters agreed, and gathered the three eldest and most skilled students of Syorin-Ji: Ryuhi, Ji, and Tao-Ming, to a practice room one evening, once the rest of the temple had gone to sleep. By the light of oil lamps, they spoke.

"An evil that we can not escape has shown it's face in China," Yu said. "You've all heard of Raima, by now, and as you can imagine the threat he poses is not going away. It's growing, as he becomes more bold." Ryuhi looked around at all the other sombre faces in the room before casting his glance to the floor. The silence hung heavy in the room, uncomfortable. Everyone knew that everyone else was thinking the same thing.

Sheng-Li continued after Yu. "All your years at this temple have taught you the virtues and morals that we've all come to possess. All your years at this temple have also trained you for this moment, where you will have to take matters into your own hands to stop an evil threatening our part of China. 'Become the strong to protect the weak.'" He quoted a line from their temple code, which hung on wooden panels on the wall of the largest meditation room. The rest of the occupants of the room nodded.

"So," said Gengai, "if you're willing to stop an evil, speak now." There were murmurs of consensus from everyone in the room, and Gengai nodded. "Then, we will swear ourselves into a secret organization of Syorin-Ji Temple, bound together by our temple code."

"What about Hayato?" It was Ji's voice that spoke now. "This ninja who we're dealing with. He's from Japan, and so is Hayato. He has a right to bring justice to the man who terrorized his country, doesn't he?" Although silence followed Ji's voice, Ryuhi could tell that there was a general feeling of agreement from at least the three students in the room. The masters considered each other, and them Gengai spoke:

"Hayato is a strong fighter, but this is temple business and a Syorin-Ji temple organization, for students of this temple alone. And don't say," he continued as he felt Ji about to interject, "that Hayato has been a student of the temple this past month. He has begun to learn the ways of Kung Fu, yes, but he has not lived his life by our code. He is a very gifted fighter, but he has no business in our affairs." The silence that followed seemed to say everyone agreed.

"Speak of this night to no one," advised Yu. "Plans to bring justice to this man called Raima will begin tomorrow. We will need two days to scout out his place of hiding, and one more to learn everything we possibly can about him from the town locals. If everything goes according to schedule, we will strike him down in three days." With that, everyone was dismissed from the room. Ryuhi, however, remained, catching Gengai's eye, silently making it known that he wanted to speak. When they were alone, Ryuhi bowed. He had a question that had been burning in the back for his mind since Hayato arrived.

"Sensei--"

"You have a question," interrupted Gengai with a small nod. "Yes, I know. You've had that look of someone who wants to ask a question for some weeks now. Shifting your foot in the dirt, creasing your brow, wondering if it's a good time to ask." Thankfully, the dim light in the room concealed the small blush that crept into Ryuhi's face. Had he been that obvious? "Ask your question, Ryuhi. Now is a fine time."

With a small nod, Ryuhi continued, unsure of how to word himself. "When I fought Hayato, Sensei, and his Hourei Shoki hit my Kinryuha… did it seem a little… 'anticlimactic' to you?" His voice sounded puzzled, and he paused before continuing on. "What I mean is… when you told me of the battle between the Dragon Warrior and the Red Falcon, you said that they used Chii, and that the earth shook from the power of it. When mine and Hayato's Chii struck each other, there was just some wind and a puff of smoke. Were they poorly executed?"

Gengai shook his head. "No. Yours and Hayato's Chii attacks were perfectly done, but it's because that they belonged to you and Hayato that they didn't make an enormous show when they collided. You and Hayato both have good Chii. The Dragon Warrior had good Chii too, but the Red Falcon's Chii was tainted. Impure and dark. When that sort of Chii and good Chii collide, they create such a conflict with each other that it seems like the very world will end." Ryuhi nodded at this. It made him feel somewhat better to know that his Kinryuha, which he had worked on for so long, hadn't been a dud. "Now," said Gengai, "go to sleep. Tomorrow we'll expand your knowledge of the Hiru no Ken, and you'll want to be rested for that."

The next day was gruelling for Ryuhi as he began his work on the more complex form of Kinryuha. He never imagined it would be so hard for him to transition from one to the other. The cold of the winter that was beginning to arrive didn't help with his mood, either. "You must bring your Chii outside of your body, but do not let it move away from you!" Instructed Gengai. "Once you have mastered holding your Chii so close to your palm, you will be one step closer to the final technique of holding it inside a single point of your body!" Ryuhi stood up from where he had fallen to his knees due to his exhaustion. Thinking he saw something purple out of the corner of his eye, he glanced to the side to see Hayato watching him, in his gi as usual. Ryuhi quickly looked away, growing more flustered. The fact that Hayato had to just see that topped it all off.

"Ryuhi!" Yelled Gengai. "Your emotions are written all over your face, boy! Control yourself!" Ryuhi drew a deep breath and composed himself and began to attempt the stronger Kinryuha again.

Two hours and a million tries later, he was no closer to the finished product then he was before. His head was beginning to ache, and he raised his hands to rub his temples. Gengai approached him and laid a hand on his student's shoulder. "All right, Ryuhi, that's enough. You did fine." Ryuhi bowed to Gengai before he walked away, and watched his retreating back with a blunt look of a weary man. _That last result wasn't exactly what I'd call fine_, he thought. With a sigh, he rubbed his sweaty forehead with his arm, only adding to the dirt on his face. He imagined he looked miserable. Casting a glance around, he began to walk back into the temple when a voice called his name.

"Ryuhi!" He turned to see Hayato walking towards him. Ryuhi's mood dropped further into the pits of Hell, if it was possible. "I saw you practicing."

"I saw you watching," was the somewhat sharp reply. After a pause, Ryuhi laughed a little and shook his head. "I'm sorry. It's just I've got this headache, and that's about the only result I got from that whole session." Hayato nodded. He knew the feeling.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. It will come to you eventually."

Ryuhi nodded, and tilted his head to the side. He had been toying with the idea of asking Hayato to be his sparring partner lately. He was the only other person at the temple who was at his level, and it had begun to become useless for him to spar with Ji, who was a great fighter but just not strong enough to pose a challenge for him anymore. Usually, the two would leave their sparring sessions with tension between then; Ryuhi because Ji wasn't helping him learn anything, and Ji because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to get anything on Ryuhi. He couldn't, he thought, spar with Tao-Ming either. He hardly saw the man anymore since he had begun his training to become a monk. The only other person for him to spar with was Gengai himself, and his master had far too much on his hands already. Sometimes, Gengai would invite Ryuhi to spar, and of course he would never turn down a chance like that, but he would never be the one to ask Gengai first. "Listen," started Ryuhi slowly, "you came here to learn about Kung Fu, and I've dedicated my life to perfecting my technique of it. So, what if we kill two birds with one stone and train together?" Graceful, he thought sarcastically.

Hayato nodded. He had been on the verge of asking the same question of Ryuhi, and so he accepted the invitation without much of a thought.

"Why don't we start right now? I've finished my chores."

"Now?" Hayato looked the other boy over slowly with a raising eyebrow. "Are you… fit to attempt it right now?"

Ryuhi glanced down at himself, then waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine, don't worry about that. I've spent seven years in this place training like this every day. I'm always up for a little more." He laughed a little. He hadn't meant for it to sound cocky, but it didn't seem like Hayato took it that way anyway.

"I know how you feel. All right. I'll show you what I've learned so far."

For the rest of the day, Hayato and Ryuhi sparred and taught each other various techniques. Ryuhi showed Hayato more advanced moves of Kung Fu, and Hayato in return taught Ryuhi moves of Kobujutsu and Jiujutsu. That night, when Ryuhi mentioned his new partner to Ji, the other young man seemed relieved. "I'm glad," he said with a nod. "You've progressed farther than I have, and it was becoming a strain on our friendship." Grateful for Ji's understanding, Ryuhi invited him to continue their meditation and drill exercises together, and Ji happily accepted.

The next day, Hayato and Ryuhi opted to work on Ryuhi's advanced Kinryuha, since now they knew that no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't make a commotion with their clashing Chii that would disturb the temple occupants. They stood facing each other yards away. Hayato would launch his icy looking Hourei Shoki at Ryuhi, and Ryuhi would counter it only at the last second with a simple Kinryuha, so they connected before it had the chance to leave the area of his palm. In doing this, Ryuhi began to get the feel of how to hold his Kinryuha instead of launching it away from him. After an hour or so of their made-up exercises, Hayato encouraged Ryuhi to attempt it on his own again. Ryuhi felt a headache coming on, but he didn't want to stop when he felt he was so close to getting it right.

Resuming his stance, he concentrated on his Chii and thrust his palm outward with the cry of, "Kinryuha!" His bright, red light erupted from his palm, and Ryuhi struggled with everything he had to keep it from launching completely away from him. When he saw it staying where he commanded it to, he began to let more and more Chii flow out his palm and into his Kinryuha, until it grew hotter and larger. When he thought it had enough, he cut off it's supply of Chii and it simply burned up into nothing. All of this took place in a matter of three seconds, but to Ryuhi it seemed an eternity. As it burned up completely, he fell to his knees, his head spinning and pounding at the same time. Lifting his hands to his head, he groaned slightly as Hayato walked up.

"Looks like you over did it," he said calmly. Ryuhi thought it was an understatement. He felt like the very hammer of the gods was being constantly slammed down onto his head, and he was sure his legs wouldn't carry him anywhere if he wanted them to. "Wait here," Hayato said. "I'll go get your Sensei." As Hayato walked away, Ryuhi groaned again, though this time it had nothing to do with the pain in his head. The last thing he wanted right now was Gengai to scold him for not knowing his own limits, even when he had specifically warned him not to overdo it. He was happy to find, however, that Gengai had no intention of scolding him. As Hayato returned with him, and Sheng-Li, he just laughed when he saw Ryuhi, a rare occurrence to be sure, and shook his head.

"No matter how old they get, boys will be boys. They never believe their Sensei, and push their limits anyway. But in the end, they all find out the hard way that their Sensei was right," he said as he lifted Ryuhi from under his arms, and Sheng-Li lifted his legs.

"I've done it too," assured Hayato as he walked with the two masters who carried Ryuhi. Although this comforted him a little, not much could ease the embarrassment of being seen by the students in his current state as he was carried into the temple like a helpless thing. They laid him in his bed, which was in his own private room since he had completed the normal training of the Syorin-Ji Temple in the summer of that year.

"Now," said Gengai, "You're going to have to stay in this bed for two or three days." When it looked like Ryuhi was about to say something, Gengai continued. "I mean it literally, Ryuhi. You've drained your Chii, and your strength. It's going to take a couple of days before you're able to move around freely again." Ryuhi nodded with a look of melancholy. If Gengai said he was going to have to stay in his bed for three days, there was no sense arguing with him. Even though that meant he wouldn't be able to train for three days, or do his chores for three days, or--

Ryuhi's gaze snapped up to meet Gengai's suddenly. Gengai turned to the other two occupants of the room, and asked for a moment alone with his student. Once given that privacy, he looked at Ryuhi with a nod. "You won't be coming with us when we go to find Raima." Ryuhi's heart suddenly felt as weighted as his lifeless body. His anticipation about finding Raima and bringing justice to him had been growing in the last few days. He had feared it, of course. Real combat, he imagined, was much different than sparring or getting into scuffles with local troublemakers, but all the same he had looked forward to that moment as a new beginning for his life, where he could truly said he had saved someone from evil. The Syorin-Ji Temple 'secret organization', which had come to be called "Syorin-Ji Shuukin" by it's members, would set out to Raima's hideout (a place described only as a cave in the immediate foothills outside the town).

"Ryuhi," said Gengai, "don't feel left out. It's not your fate to fight this evil. The gods have made that clear by making you stupid and pig-headed enough to wear yourself out like I told you not to." It sounded mean, but Gengai's eyes were laughing, and Ryuhi smiled a little. "Now. Rest your body, and your Chii. I have teaching to attend to. I'll send Hayato back inside, and you can swap stories about your pig-headedness. He said he's done it too." As Gengai left, Ryuhi felt only just a little bit better. His teacher was a very hard instructor, but he always knew when to let up and make light of a heavy situation. Moments later, Hayato re-entered the room, looking down at Ryuhi with mock sternness.

"What did I tell you about wearing yourself out?" He said. Ryuhi laughed a little.

"I've had enough of that for one day. Thanks though." He closed his eyes momentarily as his head swam. "Rest assured, I'm never going to make that mistake again." Hayato nodded before placing a hand on Ryuhi's shoulder.

"Speaking from experience," he said helpfully, "the best thing for you to do is sleep. You'll regenerate your Chii faster, and you'll be free of the headache for a while at least." Ryuhi nodded his approval of the idea, and shifted slightly, not being able to manage much more. With a nice deep breath and a sigh, he let his exhaustion consume him, and Hayato let himself out of the room, sliding the door closed behind him.

When Ryuhi awoke, it was dark, and he wasn't entirely sure how many days and nights had gone by since he had initially fallen asleep. It wasn't long until he found out, however, when Hayato came in to see how he was feeling. It turned out that it was only the next night, and Ryuhi's heart sank just a little bit more. He was hoping to have at least wished good luck to the Syorin-Ji Shuukin before they left, but by then it was already too late; they had left. Hayato, just at the rest of the temple, was under the impression that the four masters and the two most experienced students went off for some sort of sacred trial. Ryuhi supposed it wasn't a lie.

Gengai was hidden by shadow, just as the other five were in their positions around the hideout cave. It was a good night that they chose for their attack; there was no moon or stars in the sky, giving them perfect cover. They had found out the whereabouts of the ninja through research and scouting. Other than that, there had not been much to plan. Raima would probably not be carrying much in the way of weapons, besides maybe a knife or a dagger, and it was hard to plan a strategy for an attack on a man they did not know the fighting style or abilities of. At best, they decided the masters would close in first, followed by the two lesser experienced fighters. Then, they would all attack until he was incapacitated, which is when they would back off. Gengai decided that, as head master, he would take full responsibility, and kill Raima himself.

Almost everything went according to plan. As Raima returned from a night of whatever sinful pleasures he had indulged himself in, he was thrown off balance by Sheng-Li, who delivered a sudden kick from the shadows. Following suit, Yu slammed two more kicks into the ninja, sending him in the direction of Kun. As the master was about to deliver another blow as well, Raima seemed to jump, and simply disappear. There was silence, and no one moved. Yu and Sheng-Li drifted back into the shadows, and there was a general understanding among all of them, though none could see the other, that no one should make a signal and risk giving away their positions. Gengai's head turned slowly as he thought he heard something run up over the ground behind him, but he wasn't sure which way it went.

The silence was broken suddenly by the sound of a struggle. No one moved still, unsure of where the sound was coming from, the noises echoing off of the hills around them. There was a loud scream, which was cut off abruptly. Gengai cursed in his mind, and looked around to see if he could catch a glimpse of any of the other fighters. There was another long, cold silence, everyone's ears and eyes straining to catch any movement at all. All at one there was another scuffling sound. This time, Yu shouted.

"Here!" His voice yelled clearly, alerting the other fighters to his whereabouts, and all Hell broke loose. Four bodies lunged forward to help. Raima had Yu in a sort of a stranglehold, but it was nothing that a swift kick from Sheng-Li would not release. No one clearly knew what happened in the chaos that ensued. There were many shouts, and grunts and heavy breathing. Within the circle that the fighters created was Raima, struggling like a wild animal as blows struck out at him from every angle, breaking bones and crushing joints. His arm hung limp at his side, bloodied and useless. His knife had been discarded somewhere and in the darkness he couldn't see it. He felt blood welling up in his throat from their sharp blows, and he spat it at them. A sudden kick to the front of his knee made him buckle and scream until he sat on the ground, writhing in pain. Gengai called out for them to stop. Stepping forward, he looked down at the broken man of evil before him. He held his fists at his sides, elbows bent and palms up. He watched the ninja with piercing eyes, and the ninja's eyes which looked back showed little fear.

"Gengai!" Hissed Sheng-Li. "Finish him!"

_ Gengai. _It was the last word that Raima thought before Gengai shouted, "Kinryuha!" In a blazing red fiery light, Raima screamed, burned and tortured. As the ball of white hot light burned itself up, Raima fell silent, still breathing but unconscious to the world. Gengai held him in his gaze, then shook his head. "Leave him," he said, "to die here."

"Who are we missing?" Asked Tao-Ming, bringing everyone's thoughts back to the abrupt scream. After a search that only lasted minutes, they found the body of Ji. His neck had been broken, it seemed, by Raima's bare hands. They carried the body back to the temple with them.

When word of Ji's death got around the temple, there were questions upon questions. The only answer that the masters would give was that he had "not survived the trial." When provoked further at the funeral, Gengai snapped, "He died with honor, and that's all you need to know about it!" It was true, he did die with honor, and out of respect his body was burned rather than buried, to avoid it's slow decomposition. Ji had always feared that. After the funeral, the students let the subject die down, though no one ever forgot the mystery surrounding Ji's death. Even Ryuhi did not inquire further. Although devastated by the death of his friend, he knew inside himself that Ji had died on a brave mission to defend the weak and bring justice to evil. In a way, far down inside of himself, he was glad that his friend had been able to die with such honor and a sense of duty. He had lived, and died, by the temple code, which was all any of the students of Syorin-Ji Temple could hope to do.

Hayato watched all this with silence. He knew there was some hidden truth, but he did not provoke it. It was a secret Syorin-Ji ordeal, he supposed, which meant it was rightfully none of his business.

Ryuhi was soon recovered, and his and Hayato's sparring sessions continued. Ryuhi came to find that he not only thought of Hayato as a friend, but as an eternal rival to compete with. They taught each other skills and techniques, and then tested each other in their sparring matches. Sometimes one would win, sometimes the other. Hayato even began to join Ryuhi in his half hour meditation sessions twice daily as they tried to achieve some higher sense of purpose. With this routine, their winter passed quickly and spring arrived with grace, bringing with it new hopes for Ryuhi. He was well on his way to completing the second step of Hiru no Ken successfully because of his intense training through the winter, with Hayato's help, and although he couldn't call an advanced Kinryuha to his palm without minutes of prior concentration, Gengai assured him that with time he would be able to do it in less than seconds, as an automatic reaction.

As the final snows gave way to spring completely, Hayato let it be known that he would return to Japan soon, having completed as much training as he had set out to learn about Kung Fu. During their final training session together, Hayato and Ryuhi had what they considered an important sparring match to see who, after the long Fall and Winter of training together, truly possessed the greater fighting ability. It started out in the same way that their first fight had begun: Ryuhi assumed his defensive position, and Hayato assumed something like it. Within seconds, Hayato had attacked, only this time Ryuhi was more than ready for the intense speed of his rival's punches. He caught Hayato's wrist and turned so his back was pressed to his opponent's chest, still holding his wrist over his shoulder. Leaning forward suddenly, he threw Hayato over his shoulder and reassumed his defensive position before Hayato was even back on his feet. What followed in the next half hour of their fighting match was a fury of punches, kicks, blocks, throws and finally Chii attacks, which ended the match in much the same way it had the first time they fought. After several Kinryuhas and Hourei Shokis, and gusts of wind and puffs of smoke, the exhausted fighters deemed themselves to be at even levels of skill. Ryuhi collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily and chuckling. He could feel a headache coming on, and now knew better than to push himself farther than that. Hayato, too, had sat down, leaning back on his hands while rolling his head from side to side to stretch his stiff neck.

"It could have gone on," Ryuhi said jokingly. Gengai, who it seemed had just happened to be walking by at that moment, commented casually as he passed:

"But luckily your pig-headedness is wearing off."

Ryuhi raised his eyebrows at Hayato, who shrugged with a smirk as Gengai disappeared around the corner. "It doesn't seem likely that it will ever happen, does it?" He said slyly. Ryuhi shouted "Kinryuha!" somewhat weakly, but the wispy looking red ball burnt up before it got anywhere near close to Hayato. The student of Syorin-Ji Temple collapsed onto his back completely, groaning as his headache came on. Hayato just laughed.

"Told you."

On the day that Hayato finally left, Ryuhi saw him off with a wave. Hayato was a unique young man, having devoted his life to no single martial art, but them all, and Ryuhi respected him for that due to the sheer dedication that it took. He thought that one was hard enough as it was. As Hayato disappeared down the stone path and through the temple gates, Ryuhi vowed that he would seek him out in Japan one day, and challenge him to a fight to finally break their status of technique and skill equality. Turning back towards the Syorin-Ji Temple, he made his way towards the back where the well stood, for now content to continue his training.


End file.
